Top 12 Food in Macau

Top 12 Food in Macau

Macau is one of the most unique countries in the world. It has the history, culture and food of both Portuguese and Chinese. During the Portugal colonial, the Portuguese brought in its culture, its influences and most important of all its food. During the colonial, the food scene in Macau evolves to a unique fusion food of Chinese and Portuguese cuisine.

That’s why Macanese food is different than Zhuhai or Hong Kong. After visiting Macau four times and spent almost a month in total, we listed a total of Top 12 Food in Macau.

Remember you can fly direct from Malaysia to Macau with AirAsia. Read our experience at AirAsia to Macau Flight Experience.

This is a multiple pages story as it is easier to read in Mobile version. The Top 12 Food in Macau is as follows:

Portuguese Egg Tart

Top on our list is the Portuguese Egg Tart. It is said to be created by the late Andrew of Lord Stow and now it is almost everywhere in Macau.

The Portuguese Egg Tart is thicker than the usual Chinese egg tart, crispier crust, sweeter egg filling and it you can the upper layer is slightly burned as it is roasted. The roasted part is the thin layer of sugar.

The Portuguese Egg Tart is very tasty as you can taste the crunchy crust with the soft texture of egg filling. It is sweet and greasy but it taste heavenly.

You can find Portuguese Egg Tarts everywhere in Macau even in the Macau International Airport.

The popular ones are Lord Stow and Margaret’s Cafe e Nata and you can also find them at Koi Kei and other bakeries.

There is also a bird nest version of the egg tart, much lighter in taste at San Hou Lei.

Pork Chop Burger

The pork chop burger is another Macanese food you should try. Imagine pork chop deep fried into perfection and sandwiched in between butter toasted buns.

The buns are slightly toasted where you will taste that the buns are soft and fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside.

The pork chop is marinated and deep fried to perfect timing and the meat is tender and not over fried.

There are quite a number of restaurants selling pork chop burger especially in Senado Square area but the popular one is Taileiloikei. Tai Lei Loi Kei have moved to a shoplot in Taipa from the original outlet (next to the Museum of Taipa & Coloane History)

Milk Pudding

Milk pudding might not as popular as the Portuguese Egg Tarts or the Pork Chop burger but it is a must try.

There are three variations of milk puddings; the double layer milk pudding, the egg milk pudding and the ginger milk pudding.

The double layer milk pudding is soft and it has two layers of milk on top of the pudding. The two layers can be seen during the cooking process but usually it is hard to spot when you taste it.

The texture is soft and the taste is rich with milk. This is really gorgeous as it is not too sweet but the taste and scent of the milk is heavenly. This is definitely our top choice in terms of Macanese food.

For the Egg Milk Pudding, the texture is not as soft as the double layer milk pudding but it comes with hints of scent of the egg. It is still good as you can hardly fine such delicate pudding in other parts of the world.

The Ginger Milk Pudding is another version of milk pudding infused with ginger. This is very strong in ginger flavour and overwhelmed the original taste of the milk pudding. However, there are still many people love this.

The most popular restaurant for milk pudding is Yee Shun (near Senado Square) and they have another outlet called Leitaria I Son in Venetian Macao Food Court. 

Prawn Roe Noodle

Prawn roe noodle is considered one of the unique noodle dishes in the world. Using egg noodles, it is cooked and served dry with sauces and topped with prawn roe.

The prawn roe is cooked to brownish in colour sprinkled on top of the gorgeous egg noodle like sesame seeds. You can taste the flavour of the prawn roe as well as the taste of the egg noodles.

There are a few restaurants popular in creating this prawn roe noodles

Wong Chi Kei creates their egg noodle using the old Chinese bamboo method. Some called it the bamboo noodle as the chef sits on the bamboo to create the kneading pressure to the noodle and it creates a perfect egg noodle with tangy texture. These bamboo noodles are hard to find as it is time consuming.

Crab Congee

The crab congee is a hidden gem and a local’s favourite food. You might never hear about it before but it is a local delicacy.

Congee or rice porridge is cooked with water crab. The congee is waterish and it comes with hints of the taste of the water crab.

The taste is a bit bland but this is how it is. Please do not expect each and every single food must be rich in flavour.

One of the most popular restaurants in Macau serving water crab congee is at Seng Cheong. It is located Rua da Cunha.

Almond Cookies

In the 1920s, there were various traditional bakery shops established in Macau. Since then they created a local specialty of Macau, the almond cookies.

There were a few big bakeries such as Koi Kei Bakery, Chui Heong Bakery and Yee Kee Bakery, and many more small shops in the market. Now you can find the big shops almost everywhere in Macau and brand like Koi Kei Bakery also open its wings in a few Asian countries.

The almond cookies are usually sold freshly in shops. They are round in shapes and usually beige in colour and you can see bits of almonds in the cookies.

The cookies are fragrant with scent of the almond and the texture of the biscuit depends on bakery but usually it is slightly hard so it won’t be easily crushed. Depending on bakeries, some almond cookies can be sweet while some is as good as it can get.

It is a good souvenir to buy from Macau as now they are sealed packed in beautiful boxes and packaging.

You can read our previous stories on almond cookies:

Chui Heong Pastelaria Rua Do Gamboa Best Almond Cookies in Macau

Portuguese Duck Rice

This is a very unique rice dish. Their version of Portuguese Duck Rice is duck rice cooked in pot and topped with slices of bacon and sausage.

You get slices of duck meat cooked with the rice. The rice is fragrant with the oil from the bacon and sausage.

This dish is available in most Portuguese restaurants in Macau.

Cod Fish Cake

Cod Fish Cake is not the usual fish cake but it is another unique food. The shape of the cod fish cake never looks like a cake but it looks like more like a potato.

The cod fish cake is oval in shape and it is deep fried to perfection. The ingredient is mainly potato with mixture of cod fish. The texture is mainly potato and it is slightly dry but it is something you should try because it is unique.

Cod Fish Cake is a simple food that you can find in Portuguese restaurants in Macau.

Tau Fu Fah

Tau fu fah or soy beancurd is a common Chinese dessert. However, Macau’s version is slightly different than usual. The usual tau fu fah is usually served hot but Macau’s version is served cold with milk and they do sell the usual hot tau fu fah

The cold version of tau fu fah served with evaporated milk (Carnation Milk) and it is quite tasty. Their texture of tau fu fah is very smooth and so far we visited two of the most popular shops in Macau.

However,  I still prefer their hot tau fu far as the texture is smooth and tasty. It is hard to find such good quality tau fu fah anymore.

They are Sopa De Fitas Wing Kei Macao and Firma U Tac Hong Macau Tofu Specialty Restaurant.

Serradura, Saw dust dessert

Serradura is a local dessert and the name is translates to “saw dust”. Of course, it is not “saw dust” by any means but a delectable cold dessert.

Serradura is a cold dessert made of cream, crushed “Marie biscuits” and condensed milk. It is sweet, tasty and addictive. You can taste the soft texture of the cream and also the crunchy texture of the crushed biscuits and some they add in crushed cashew nuts.

You can find Serradura in restaurants, cafes and dessert shops in Macau. Our little advice on enjoying Serradura, eat it while it is still cold. Enjoy this marvellous Macanese dessert.

Sweet pork jerky

Sweet pork jerky is Macanese version of “bak kua”. Their version of pork jerky is bigger in size and thicker. They have different types of pork jerky and you can find them in Senado Square.

Usually they sell in large piece or they will cut into pieces and packed in nicely for you to bring back as souvenir.

Depending on shops, the taste differs but as we mentioned the jerky is thicker but the taste is not too bad. It depends on your taste palette.

If you are a “bak kua” lover, this is something you try and buy.

Bacalhau

Bacalhau is a common dish in Portugal and you can have it in Macau. Bacalhau is baked salted cod fish with potatoes.

This is a simple dish and yet interesting. Well, cod fish is not a cheap fish and they use salted cod fish and baked it with potatoes. The taste is salty, you can taste the fragrant of the olives and the texture of the salted cod fish is not as hard as the usual salted fish.

If you are a salted fish lover, you should try this. You can find Bacalhau in most Portuguese restaurants in Macau.

We have listed the Top 12 Food in Macau and there are a few food that we didn’t put in the list. Some of them are peanut candy, Portuguese suckling pork and “African Chicken”. Please take note the Top 12 Food in Macau is based on our opinions with the advice of our Macanese friends. We have visited Macau four times so far and hope to visit the beautiful country again.

Please enjoy the Top 12 Food in Macau when you travel there.

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